Swingable sliding door for vehicles, particularly automotive vehicles

ABSTRACT

A swingable sliding door for a vehicle, comprising a guide assembly on the top of the door traveling in a guide rail arranged above the door, the guide assembly comprising a swing arm pivotally attached to the door and including an arcuate, reversely bent portion connected rigidly to a roller assembly which travels in the guide rail. The bent portion of the swing arm straddles an end post of the door opening when the door is in open position to maximize the access opening when the door is fully opened.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a swingable sliding door for a vehicle,particularly an automotive vehicle, in which guide means are mounted atthe top of the door panel for travel in a guide rail secured above thedoor panel.

PRIOR ART

Swingable sliding doors for automotive vehicles are known, particularlydoors for a driver's cab and in which an inwardly bent angle plate ismounted at the top of the door panel and supports a pair of horizontallyspaced rollers which travel in respective guide rails which are bent atthe end.

Since the lower portion of the door of a truck cab is widened as aresult of the contour of the vehicle, while the upper pillar isrearwardly inclined, the central part of the door is disposed within thedoor opening when the door is opened. As a result, the available accesswidth is limited.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

An object of the present invention is to provide a swingable slidingdoor for a vehicle, particularly an automotive vehicle, in whichsubstantially the entire width of the door opening is available foraccess when the door is in open position.

This is achieved, in accordance with the invention, in that the guidemeans mounted at the top of the door comprises a pivot arm which ispivotally mounted on the door and whose end is bent in arcuate shape andis rigidly connected to a roller assembly which travels in a guide rail.The bend or arcuate curvature of the pivot arm is more than 90° but lessthan 180°, and is preferably about 160°.

In order that the path of displacement of the swingable sliding door isenlarged still further, the end of the rail which corresponds to theopen position of the door is bent slightly at an angle towards theinside of the body of the vehicle.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES OF THE DRAWING

One embodiment of the invention is shown in the drawing, in which:

FIG. 1 diagrammatically shows the swingable sliding door in solid linesin its closed position and chain-dotted lines in its open position;

FIG. 2 is a top plan view, on enlarged scale, of the upper guide meansfor the door and wherein the door is shown in closed position in solidlines and in open position in chain-dotted lines;

FIG. 3 is a side elevational view of the door; and

FIG. 4 is a sectional view along line IV--IV in FIG. 2.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

Seen in FIG. 1 is a swingable sliding door 1 which is shown in closedposition in solid lines and in open position in chain-dotted lines. Thedoor 1 has a lower portion 2 which is relatively wide and a narrowerupper portion 3 whose front pillar is inclined rearwardly. The door 1 isguided at the top by a guide means 4; at the center by a guide means 5and at the bottom by a guide means 6.

The guide means 5 and 6 are conventional. Guide means 6 comprises arigid guide arm 7 which travels in a fixed, downwardly open, U-shapedrail 8. The guide means 5 comprises a swing arm 9 with a roller 10 atits end traveling in a corresponding fixed guide rail 11.

The upper guide means 4 is essential for the guidance of the door and isshown in detail in FIG. 2. As seen therein, the guide means 4 comprisesswing arm 12 pivotally attached at one end to the door 1 at 13. Theother end of the swing arm 12 rigidly supports a roller assembly 15including rollers 15a, 15b, which travel in a rail 16. The rail is adownwardly open U-shaped rail in which the guide rollers 15a and 15b areconfined. In addition, the roller assembly also comprises a supportroller 17 which rotates around a horizontal axle and which travels on acorresponding flat rail 17a which can be attached to the downwardly openU-shaped rail 16 or made integral therewith. The guide rollers 15a,15band the support roller 17 form the roller assembly 15, which is rigidlyattached by a plate 21 to the swing arm 12, as seen in FIGS. 2 and 4. Bythis construction of the roller assembly, the roller assembly, and thusthe swing arm, are movable about the point of contact or application ofthe support roller 17 on the rail 17a.

The rail 16 is inclined inwardly at its end 16a and as a result, thedoor 1 can move into the door opening and lie flush with the wall orframe of the vehicle body in its closed position, as seen in solid linesin FIG. 2.

In order for substantially the entire width of the door opening to beexposed in the open position of the door 1, the swing arm 12 is formedwith a reversely bent or arcuate portion 18. The degree of bend of thearcuate portion is greater than 90° but less than 180°,and is preferablyabout 160°.

In order for the door 1, in the open position, to carry out a stillsomewhat larger path of displacement, the end portion 19 of the rail 16,and therefore the part of the rail 16 which corresponds to the openposition of the door, is inclined slightly inwards. This degree ofinclination, as shown at 20 in FIG. 2, is about 10°.

As shown in FIG. 2, as a result of the bent portion 18 of the swing arm12, the door post 21a is straddled, as shown in chain-dotted outline inFIG. 2, with the result that in the open position of the doorsubstantially the entire width of the door opening is accessible.

More particularly, the bend in the arm 12 permits the door 1 to be movedto the left in FIG. 1 to its open position in which the wider portion ofthe door is approximately at the rear frame of the door and thereby thedoor opening will be fully accessible. In contrast, with conventionalconstructions of the upper guide means, the upper end of the door wouldlie at the rear of the door opening and the wider portion of the doorwould intrude into and block part of the door opening.

Although the invention has been described in relation to a specificembodiment thereof, it will become apparent to those skilled in the artthat numerous modifications and variations thereof can be made withoutdeparting from the scope and spirit of the invention as defined in theattached claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A swingable sliding door apparatus for a vehiclecomprising a door having an upper end portion, a fixed guide railadjacent said upper end portion of said door and guide means connectedto said upper end portion of said door and engaged in said guide railfor guiding the movement of the door in traveling between open andclosed positions thereof, an end post against which said door abuts inthe closed position, said guide means comprising a swing arm having oneend pivotably attached to said door and a remote end, a roller assemblyrigidly connected to said remote end and rollably supported in saidfixed rail, said swing arm including a bent portion between said ends tostraddle said post in said open position for maximizing the accessopening when the door is in open position.
 2. A door apparatus asclaimed in claim 1 wherein said bent portion is reversely bent throughan angle between 90° and 180°.
 3. A door apparatus as claimed in claim 2wherein said angle is 160°.
 4. A door apparatus as claimed in claim 1wherein said rail includes an end portion which receives said rollerassembly in the open position of the door, said end portion beinginclined with respect to said rail in a direction away from said door.5. A door apparatus as claimed in claim 1 wherein said bent portionforms an arcuate bend in said swing arm.
 6. A door apparatus as claimedin claim 1 wherein said roller assembly comprises a horizontal rollerwith a vertical axis of rotation and a vertical roller with a horizontalaxis of rotation, said vertical roller rollably resting on said rail ata contact surface around which said roller assembly turns as the door isopened and closed.
 7. A door apparatus as claimed in claim 1 whereinsaid rail includes an end portion which receives said roller assembly inthe closed position of the door, said end portion being inclined withrespect to said rail in a direction away from said door.